Letters to the Editor: The GOP put party before country and killed its own immigration bill
To the editor: I’m sorry, but did I miss the details of the House’s immigration bill? It must have proposed alternatives that are not compatible with the Senate bill. (“A Republican senator got the border deal the GOP said it wanted. Watch while his party betrays him,” Opinion, Feb. 7)
The concept of our legislative branch, as I understand it, is we voters elect adults who generally support our ideas, either left or right. Those legislators propose compromises until a majority reaches an agreement. Rarely do people ever get 100% of what they want.
Unfortunately, the speaker of the House has taken it upon himself to block legislation that doesn’t advance his party’s goals, which appears to be authoritarian domination of this country. This is too much power granted to one individual, and I’m sure it’s not what our founding fathers intended.
He should instead schedule proposed legislation for debate, compromise and voting. Let each elected member of Congress go on record for or against, and let those against propose alternatives.
I am 77 and have been a registered Republican for as long as I could vote. Going forward, I plan on excluding any current Republican officeholders from receiving my vote. Elections need to get back to selecting the best qualified candidate, not blindly following a party.
Dale S. Weikel, Bullhead City, Ariz.
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To the editor: Thanks to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) for standing up for the rule of law and upholding our current asylum laws by voting against the border bill. The proposed changes would not uphold our long-held ideal that we are a nation that protects and integrates vulnerable immigrants.
While a tightening of the flow of immigrants may be in order, any broad changes to our immigration laws should not ignore the millions of undocumented immigrants already contributing immensely to our communities.
Addressing their status is the just and fair thing to do, as there has not been any meaningful pathway to lawful status made for them in nearly 40 years.
Daniel Luna, West Covina
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To the editor: Our country’s Constitution was created through compromise. Government bills are created and passed through compromise and have been since our country’s founding.
The GOP seems to have forgotten that. For decades, Republicans have railed about immigration, yet they choose to do nothing about it.
A bipartisan group of senators put forth a deal on immigration. The logical next step would be for the House to look at the bill and suggest changes to make it more to their liking — in other words, compromise.
Instead, House Republicans said they would refuse to consider it, and Senate Republicans withdrew their support.
What this says to the country is that GOP legislators don’t want to do the job they were elected to do. They would rather complain and pursue political stunts.
Pam Hobson, Big Bear Lake, Calif.
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To the editor: For a decade, the right has claimed that Democrats want more undocumented immigrants, because that would somehow result in more votes for us.
But now, we see it is really the Republicans who want our country flooded from the south, just so they can rally against it.
Great governing.
Gary Davis, Los Angeles
